It’d be a farce to say Rosie O’Donnell has ever turned her back on the gay community. Girl has done so much, from showing how gay families are just like Us to challenging Elisabeth Hasselback’s ignorance on The View! But then she up and canceled on the lesbians gathering at this weekend’s biggest girl party The Dinah in Palm Springs. Rut-roh.
Rule No. 1 of lesbian celebrities: Do not piss off your lesbian fan base. While gay dudes are willing to forgive celeb missteps (see: Madonna‘s American Life), the ladies hold grudges! So Rosie might have some amends to make after backing out on what was supposed to be her grand return to stand-up tomorrow night.
Mary Buckheit (aka the adorable Mary Bside) reports:
Back in January, stand-up comedian & celesbian personality, Rosie O’Donnell announced that she would make her anticipated return to stand-up comedy on Friday, April 2, at the Palm Springs Convention Center as a part of The Dinah (Club Skirts presentation of Dinah Shore weekend 2010).
A few weeks later, O’Donnell canceled her appearance. According to the official press release from the Club Skirts promotions team, the show was canceled because of O’Donnell’s desire to “remain in Miami with her children over Spring break.”
Curious about how such a big commitment could fall through, I asked Mariah Hanson, producer of The Dinah, to explain. Hanson said in a phone interview, “I have never had a headliner do this to me before. I couldn’t believe it. I was in a state of shock. She really disappointed a lot of people. She just changed her mind on us.”
Rosie skipping The Dinah? This is the equivalent of Sarah McLachlan skipping Lilith Fair. But Rosie’s official excuse is that she wanted to spend time with her kids rather than a sea of dykes, which either represents how committed she is to her family, or her willingness to find any excuse to get out of her commitments.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Cam
It’s such a load of crap too. Rosie doesn’t work, she is with her kids 100% of the time, all vacations, all summer etc… to set up then cancell an event because she wants to spend time with her kids is B.S. She has a new young girlfriend and probably wanted to hang with her. Celebs are spoiled and don’t want to have to abide by calandars and time tables, and Rosie hasn’t worked in so long she doesn’t have a staff of people to make her get her ass out to events on time.
my four cents
yep – load of crap: she knew her schedule (and the kids school schedule) well before Jan. Just another way to keep her name in the news, a la leno
Lynn
uh… seriously. You think lesbians have hard time forgiving?
Anyway, I don’t know why Rosie backed out. But stand-up comedy is notoriously stressful. Many famous performers have mentioned in interviews that they were very grateful, once their careers took off, that they were able to leave stand-up behind.
As part of her return to entertainment, Rosie may have agreed to do this act, then, while working on her routine, remembered how awful doing stand-up really is. Or maybe she was having trouble developing material. Who knows?
But there is plenty of love for Rosie, whatever she does. We don’t forget our friends.
my four cents
er, Lynn, listen to the linked conversation: Ro was the one who contacted Hanson in the first place, asking to take part- but you are right about the ‘who knows’ part. And who cares (?)- just the folks who had purchased tix in advance. Still not cool to cancel just weeks away and using the kids as an excuse…
Maria
Had a great weekend without Rosie. Started with a bang, and ended with a quake. Saw hundreds of pics at http://palmsprings.metromix.com/dinah
jeffree
Who knows why Rosie cancelled…. I want to call that action of hers tacky because schools publish vacation schedules way way ahead of time, but it sounds all the same, from what i hear /read that it was still a great weekend despite the rock & roll of a freaking earth quake! I hope all the attendees are safe & sound.